5. Do ovulation prediction kits and temperature charts work?
Yes, they can be a useful guide. They can tell you when you're ovulating, but can be inaccurate on timing. Learning to read your body and pinpointing the fertile time in your cycle is cheaper and often more affective. Ovulation kits work by testing your urine for a hormone surge which occurs just before ovulation. By the time you get the result, the window of opportunity may have passed. Something called Basal body temperature (BBT) measurements used to be used but rely on the fact that your body temperature increases a very small amount after ovulation. Again, you may have already ovulated by the time you get this information, so it's too late to conceive.

6. How long do the egg and sperm live for?
An egg lives for about 12-24 hours after you ovulate, and sperm can live for five to seven days. Ideally, you need a lot of sperm on stand-by to pounce on that egg when it's released, so have sex in the days leading up to when you ovulate and a day after. You only release the one egg, but a single ejaculation from your partner will supply millions of sperm, so keep the supply up by having lots of sex.

7. Can you only conceive if you have sex on the day you ovulate?
No, that's a myth. Because sperm can live for up to a week after ejaculation, they may still be in your fallopian tube when you ovulate, and so able to fertilise an egg. Research shows that even if you have sex six days prior to ovulation you stand a good chance of conceiving. If you wait to have sex only on the day you ovulate you may miss your chance of pregnancy altogether.

8. So when should you have sex?
Current recommendations from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists are that you should avoid timed intercourse and instead have sex several times a week around the time of ovulation. This is thought to be the best way to have a good chance of pregnancy. So don't get hung up about having sex on the day you ovulate, and don't assume you are ovulating on the 14th day of your cycle. Just have lots of sex in that week around ovulation and make sure you keep it about having fun rather than obsessing over making a baby - our sex tips might help.

9. Can ovulation be painful?
Some women get a sharp pain in their lower abdomen, called Mittelschmerz, as the ripe egg is released by the ovary. Rarely women may lose a small amount of blood when you ovulate too.

10. Why can it be so difficult to get pregnant?
Humans just aren't very fertile as a species. You only have a one in three chance of conceiving every month - and that's just when you're a healthy twenty-something. As you get into your thirties those chances become less with fertility dropping rapidly after 35 years in women.

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